Love is never gone
by Sapphyr Black
Summary: Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas find Merry and Pippin, but also the person who saved them. She takes them to Excalus and we learn that it's not the first time Legolas and she have met. Plez r/r
1. minya ambar

Dried leaves crunched under their boots and branches cracked over head from the wind. Aragorn ran ahead to survey the land up ahead leaving Legolas and Gimli behind. Their search for Merry and Pippin was looking grim, there had been no sign of them for three days now. They had been walking through forestland for about a week and their food supply had dwindled down to half of the last lembas. On their second day in the woods, they had been attacked by a band of orcs. Legolas had been hit in the side of the abdomen with an arrow, piercing his skin. The wound still bled as they continued on, but his vision was becoming blurry at times and he would become dizzy. Aragorn returned with no new news and they continued with little hope left in them. Sun had just begun setting when Aragorn's good nose picked up the sent of smoke and Legolas's keen eyes saw a flickering of fire up ahead in a clearing of trees in the shape of a circle. They began to run, Gimli holding his axe in one hand, Legolas readying his bow and Aragorn unsheathing his sword. When they entered the space, the grass seemed greener almost happy to greet them and the stars seemed to come out to play overhead. A fire was set in the center with two logs on either side and there sat Merry and Pippin smoking their pipe weed and roasting meat over the fire looking like their happy, chipper hobbit selves. Merry raised his head, removed the pipe and smiled at their visitors.  
  
"Oye, Pippin, it's Strider, Legolas and Gimli," Merry spoke up.  
  
The three lowered their weapons and sighed a sigh of relief.  
  
"Want some?" Pippin held out the pan containing the browning meat.  
  
"We take you two for dead and here you are, cooking dinner," Aragorn replied.  
  
"Supper actually," Pippin corrected.  
  
Aragorn sat down next to Merry and Legolas took a seat next to Pippin everyone taking turns asking and answering each other's questions. Gimli leaned up against an old but sturdy oak tree and rested his tired eyes. Out of nowhere, an arrow whizzed past Gimli's temple just a half an inch away making him jump up. It stuck deep in the tree. Aragorn and Legolas jumped up weapons ready.  
  
"Show yourself!" Gimli growled.  
  
Legolas fixed his eyes on something in the shadows, it moved very swiftly back and forth between the trees, confusing him. He sent off a warning shot and it hit something, a tree, the figure was gone. Merry and Pippin continued eating around the fire occasionally looking around them, apparently not startled by this attack. Another arrow came from the darkness and Aragorn caught it as it was heading for his chest. He examined the craftsmanship on the arrow, it was indeed red wood finely sanded down with gold artwork along the sides. The end was tipped with sleeping poison and the butt was decorated with blue feathers.  
  
"Legolas, I want you to look at this arrow. What race does it look like?" Aragorn asked.  
  
Legolas lowered his bow and arrow and bent down next to Aragorn wincing from the pain of his wound which still bleed. He handed the arrow to the elf who carefully examined it.  
  
"Of the race of elves, see the writing here and here?" Legolas answered.  
  
"That's what I thought, but it's tipped with sleeping poison," Aragorn pointed out.  
  
"Strong enough to knock out a wild boar, if you don't mind me saying," an english female voice came from the shadows.  
  
"Who goes there?" Gimli questioned, axe positioned to strike at any given moment. Merry and Pippin looked towards the shadow at the sound of the voice. Leaves crunched as it made it's towards them. The first thing to be seen was the moon's light shining off the tip of a readied arrow, then the silhouette of a women slowly appeared. Aragorn and Legolas stood up and readied their weapons again. Merry and Pippin bowed at the presence of this figure.  
  
"Go back to your meal halflings, I shall take care of these trespassers," she said. The two hobbits obeyed and continued their meal.  
  
"Lower your weapon," Aragorn instructed.  
  
"Why? So you can kill these two innocent refugees that I saved from the orcs of Mordor?" she questioned.  
  
"These two are of our fellowship, we wish to continue on our journey taking them with us," Aragorn informed.  
  
"Fellowship? Three make up a fellowship? You are no more than a dwarf, man, and an elf, what need do you have for halflings?" she wondered.  
  
"When we set out from Rivendale, there were nine of us, when we reached Lothlorien there were eight of us and when we came here, there are five of us including those two," Aragorn replied.  
  
"So you have seen the Golden wood and it's Lady and Lord?" she questioned sounding astonished.  
  
"Yes," Gimli answered.  
  
"Then you are no enemy if you have seen the Lady of the Light," she said.  
  
She stepped out into the night-light shining high from the full cream moon. She wore an outfit similar to Legolas's but brown and a few alterations. She had blonde and brown hair pulled back into a long braid and she had piercing cerulean blue eyes. She had pointed ears, almost leaf- shaped like Legolas's. A sword was attached to here left hip and a quaver of arrows lay attached to her back with the black leather strap across her chest. Legolas felt faint and dizzy, his vision was blurry and pain shot up from his wound. He felt his legs give out from underneath him and began to fall forward. Aragorn caught him and lied him on the ground. She threw here bow and arrow aside and ran to Legolas's aid. Gimli bent down and placed a folded cloth under Legolas's head.  
  
"He's still breathing" Aragorn announced.  
  
"His wound is deep and poison is making its trail. He will not last long out here without medical treatment. We must go to my people, there he can be treated properly," the new elf informed. Aragorn picked up Legolas while Gimli gathered up the two hobbits and their belongings. The girl led the way swiftly and quietly through the forest. Daybreak came and the sun shined hard upon their backs, burning their skin. As nightfall started to show its face, they reached tall silver gates. The elf called up in her language and the gates opened and the group hurried inside. 


	2. Bril runya

Three elves took Legolas from Aragorn and ran up into a large wooden building with a design that of Rivendale. The others were shown to a different, smaller building with an inside with a design that of Lothlorien. Lighting was silver with a hint of blue or green, candles shown from all the corners. The windows contained no doors only balconies and winding stairs led up to another level. This elven refuge was hidden between two great mountains. Gondor over one mountain and Mordor over the other. Out side the windows the grass was as green as could be, flowers sprouted everywhere, waterfalls and small rivers ran between the village and trees not only added cover but shade for hot days such as this. Once Gimli, Aragorn, and the two hobbits were shown to their rooms, they lost sight of the elven women.  
  
Meanwhile in Legolas's room, the king of the village was treating him. Once the wound was properly bandaged, the King left and the girl they met earlier came in. She wore a white sequenced dress with a see-through over coat that had long and wide sleeves. Her brown and blonde hair was down and wavy. Two braids decorated the sides of her head and half was pulled back behind her head and curled. She made her way over to Legolas and pulled a chair next to him. There she sat and sang softly in a quiet voice to him. She sang in elvish, the language of both of their people. As the song was nearing an end, Legolas's eyes slowly started to open. He noticed someone sitting beside him, she was singing. All he could think about was her voice, he felt no pain from his wound, the voice seemed to help him heal. He looked up and watched her sing, to him, she seemed to have a glowing white light around her kind of what he saw in Lothlorien around Galadriel. She resembled an angel without wings. She noticed that he was awake and looking at her. She stopped singing and smiled down at him.  
  
"You're awake, how do you feel?" she wondered. He sat up in the bed in which he lay and the covers slid down to his lower stomach. He smiled at her and then noticed that he sat before her wearing no shirt only a bandage. He slowly laid back down and pulled the covers up to his shoulders.  
  
"I can feel no pain," he replied.  
  
"Good, my father has treated you well. If you are willing, supper shall be served in a little while, I shall come and summon you," she offered.  
  
"How long have I laid asleep here?" he questioned.  
  
"No longer than a day," she answered. She stood up and moved the chair back to the side of the room. She started to walk to the door then looked back and smiled at him, then left the room, carefully shutting the door.  
  
Pippin and Merry decided to go for a walk in the courtyard between the two buildings before their feast. In the middle of a circle of flowers stood a stone statue of an elven maiden with her arms outstretched with a bird in one hand and a crown in the other. A saying was written around the base in high elvish, a language that they couldn't read since they weren't school in that language. A small pond was to their left and its water was clear containing three small fish and a frog on a large lily pad. As they were finishing their walk around the circle gazing at the beautiful landscaping of the elves, they saw Frodo and Sam come out from under the arced bridge connecting two other small buildings. They ran to each other and hugged and cried. They cried tears of joy, not sadness for the thought of their friends' deaths lingered in their minds since their departure of each other. They sat on a stone bench and talked for an extended amount of time about their adventures, perils, hardships and even how they came to be here. Sam told them that after he and Frodo had run into Gollum that they had fallen into Shelobs layer. Once they escaped, barely, Frodo had become paralyzed by her bite. They had just gotten over the one mountain when they we spotted by a group of elves and led here where Frodo was to be treated. As their conversation started to slow down a bell chimed high from one of the smaller buildings.  
  
"Supper's ready," Frodo laughed.  
  
They made their way out of the courtyard and into the largest building in the village. They entered a large room with a large rectangular table with a long, thin silver cloth on it. A chair sat at the two heads of the table with numerous chairs on either side. Windows as tall as the walls themselves decorated the walls. Through the windows you could see both waterfalls, fields, and streams that ran in the valley that these elves lived in. White china was being placed in front of each chair and along side the plates sat the most beautiful silver ware they had ever seen. There were four taller chairs one right next to the other for the four hobbits, or so they guessed. Crystal wineglasses sat above the plates and were already being filled with the reddest wine they had ever seen. It sparkled like the gems in the caves of the dwarves or like sun bouncing off water. 


	3. Minya mereth

Just as she had promised, the elf came back to get Legolas for supper. She handed him some clothes that weren't ripped or torn. Earlier, she had handed the others a change of wardrobe as well. Legolas looked at his reflection in the tall hanging mirror. He now wore tan pants with brown boots with gold embroidering and a white tunic with silver designs woven into it along the collar and sleeves.  
  
"May I enter now? Are you descent?" she asked from behind the large white door.  
  
"Yes you may enter. Now do I look presentable?" he wondered.  
  
"You look like you have lived here your whole life. We must leave, we're now in a bit of a hurry," she replied. She walked swiftly over to him and took him by the arm. "  
  
Why such a hurry?" he questioned.  
  
"Your friends are awaiting you and my people are awaiting me. Now come on and don't toy with me," she answered in one breath.  
  
She pulled him along carefully as not to hurt his wound in any way. They finally got to the room and took a seat across from one another. Aragorn and Gimli were dressed alike in a similar outfit to Legolas. Now the whole fellowship finally sat down to a real feast and a feast it was, loaded with breads, meats, fine wines, and ale, all the ale you could drink and that's just what Merry and Pippin did, drink. After the long and hardy feast, everybody sat down and talked for a spell.  
  
"Legolas, may I speak with you outside?" the girl asked.  
  
"Yes, let's go," he agreed.  
  
They both got up unnoticed because of the differing conversations. They walked out to the waterfall closet to Gondor and went behind it. They maneuvered so they wouldn't get wet and did a good job. It was very spacious behind the fall, rocks had formed chair-like figures over the years. The moon light shone through the water creating a celestial blue light inside.  
  
"Legolas, tengwa nin ar ye," she spoke (Legolas, let me come with you.).  
  
"ú-le egla," he replied (no, it's too dangerous.)  
  
"Im thalion ar linte, ye rim nin," she said (I'm strong and swift, you need me.)  
  
"Ye túl , ye gurth-uva nev," he protested ( If you come, your death will be all too near.)  
  
"A si I-dhúath ú-orthor, ú or le a ú or nin," she shook her head ( Death does not smile yet, not over you and not over me.)  
  
"Ú vana Laurea. I raug, Sauron ceber-uva ye," he warned (No fair Laurea, the demon Sauron will kill you.)  
  
"I do not fear him," she snapped, "Do you remember nothing of your last trip here?"  
  
"I remember a kiss from a young maiden, without knowing my name or rank," he smiled slightly. He took her hands in his and gazed deep into her eyes.  
  
"Yes and I hold true to that kiss. Im mel ye si," she whispered (I love you now.)  
  
"Im mel ye a-ilye ni orë," he whispered back (I love you with all my heart.)  
  
"You may come along with us. You know of our mission, I'm sure."  
  
"Yes that I do know of," she smiled. He slowly bent down and she looked up and then they kissed. It wasn't the first time they had ever kissed, no, they even planned to marry one day. Now they weren't sure if they were ever going to see that day, but they pretended that it was coming soon, every moment mattered to them.  
  
By the way, that is real elvish, I have an elvish dictionary I used to write the dialogue, also the translations are in the parenthesis, hope you liked it! 


	4. Silme gond

The next morning the entire fellowship plus their new elf companion, Laurea were standing outside in the circle of the garden. They were speaking of what their journey holds before them and what they must accomplish before then.  
  
"Laurea!" a female voice called from under the arched bridge between the two buildings. Laurea's head jolted and her eyes widened, Legolas recognized the voice as well.  
  
"Not now," she whispered under her breath.  
  
A female elf with sandy blonde hair and ocean blue eyes ran out of the shadow towards them. She wore a long robin's egg blue dress with long wide sleeves that seemed a little too long for her. Her hair was tied back into a loose ponytail and went down close to her mid-back. She grabbed Laurea around the shoulders and smiled a ear-to-ear smile. They both lost their balance and tripped running into Pippin as they fell to the ground. Pippin, in return, lost his balance as well and fell into the water base of the elvish fountain. Merry and Frodo rushed to help Pippin out of the water and back onto his feet.  
  
"Hey Pip, you got your mornin' bath I see?" Merry joked. Pippin's damp face grew into a grin as he pushed Merry into the fountain as well.  
  
"Pay-back's a bitch ain't it Merry?" Pippin laughed. Laurea and this new elf sat up on the ground and laughed.  
  
"Do you mind Eieru? I was trying to have a conversation?" Laurea asked. Eieru looked at Legolas and studied him from his face to his feet and back to his face.  
  
"I see, I'm sure you were," she smiled slightly to the right.  
  
"Nice to see you again, Eieru," Legolas replied. Laurea and Eieru stood up and stood side by side as Laurea introduced the fellowship to her and her to the fellowship.  
  
"This is Eieru, she is a dear and old friend of mine. She hails from Excalus as well and has been quietly falling in love with," she was cut off by Eieru.  
  
"Well, I think you all know a little more than you want to. So what has brought you all here?" she wondered with a smile.  
  
"We were sent here by Lord Elrond and our business is our own," Frodo announced.  
  
"Alright, alright, I meant no harm, I was just bein' curious," she backed away.  
  
"Aragorn, should we not be leaving before dark?" Gimli questioned.  
  
"Yes, that would be wise. Thank you and your people for your kind hospitality Laurea, but we best be off," Aragorn hinted.  
  
"Aragorn? The Aragorn? Isildor's heir, heir to the throne of Gondor?" Eieru stuttered and went wide-eyed.  
  
"I would prefer that not be mentioned if you do not mind. I shall go by the name Strider if you wish to address me as such for I am just a mere ranger," Aragorn lectured.  
  
"Whoa, yes sir, I mean Strider," she quickly answered.  
  
"Now that we've gone through that. Can we get them some towels and dry clothes?" Sam wondered as he pointed to the socking wet Merry and Pippin.  
  
"Yes, lead them back to their rooms so that they may change, cloths should be hanging from a chair in the corner," Laurea offered. Sam turned around and led the way back into the building to their right with Merry and Pippin following as ducklings follow their mother.  
  
"Now, we must be leaving," Frodo announced.  
  
"What? You're leaving again Laurea? You've just gotten back, I won't let you leave alone, I'm coming with you," Eieru decided.  
  
"Eieru, you can't! Stay here and watch over Excalus," Laurea ordered.  
  
"No, last time you said that you nearly didn't come back!" Eieru pointed out. Laurea winced at the comment and looked in the direction of the mountains to their left.  
  
"Please Eieru, listen to her she only watches out for your safety," Legolas pleaded.  
  
"I want to come. I've never been on a true adventure and I believe that it's about time that I started off on one," she demanded. Aragorn told her of what their objective was and the effects of what might happen if it's not completed.  
  
"It's final then, I am to accompany Laurea as Sam does for Frodo," she announced. Laurea's expression grew serious and emotional, her eyes grew deep and heavy. As soon as Merry, Pippin and Sam came back with their packs, they were off on their journey. 


	5. Ara gaer din

Once they had left the gates of Excalus, the clouds covered the sky. The sun attempted numerous times to shine through but the clouds over powered it. They hiked through acres of fields of flowers, some grew as high as Merry's shoulders. Pippin picked a small rose and walked over to Laurea.  
  
"This is for you," he said as he offered her the flower. She took it graciously with a smile and placed it in her hair.  
  
"Thank you Pippin, it was very thoughtful," she replied. He smiled and ran back to Merry's side. Eieru looked down at Merry who she had been walking near and tugged on his jacket sleeve. He halted next to her and she bent down to his height.  
  
"What was that about?" she questioned.  
  
"I think, perhaps, Pippin fancies her," he answered. He gave a small chuckle as she regained her spot in line as they continued on. Frodo glanced down at the ring hanging from around his neck and took it in one hand as they neared the mountain.  
  
"Many tales of doom and distress lie in these caves along the mountains of fair Excalus. Let us pray that we do not have to venture in them," Aragorn announced.  
  
"I have heard one of those tells. A human warrior entered once and when he returned from his journey, he was mere blood and bones. No trace of skin clung to him," Gimli added. Pippin's and Sam's faces shrunk into grossed out looks of disgust as Merry made gagging sounds.  
  
"And yet those who live so close have heard no trace of these so called tales," Eieru giggled.  
  
"Enough of tales, there is a mission at hand we must finish," Frodo scolded.  
  
"Calm down Frodo. We will finish our mission, we're making good time in fact," Aragorn placed a hand on Frodo's shoulder.  
  
"Frodo, my words may not come as any form of comfort, but they must be said. Eyes so blue and clear, innocence within each smile. A sincere heart and a kind soul, strength that lays hidden is now unleashed. A fight, a war, a struggle over evil, rage within this hobbit, such a hard struggle this is. Soon the innocence begins to fade, a tormented expression glints within those blue eyes with a battle that none can understand. But all can see clearly that he who bears the ring, bears the torment of true evil. Some can understand what you are going through Frodo son of Drogo," Laurea said.  
  
"No! No one understands cause no one has to be tortured like I do. This band of gold has driven many to their deaths and I am next. I have tried to make believe that I don't care, but in my heart I know that what I am doing is not destroying a ring but sacrificing my life. The ring cannot and will not be destroyed ever! You must understand that," he yelled in frustration.  
  
"Is it not possible for it to be destroyed or is it not going to be destroyed because you won't let it be destroyed?" she wondered. Frodo glanced down at the ring in his palm and back up at her in anger.  
  
"You want it for yourself! You want power and you are doing this to get it, well I won't let you have it!" he screamed.  
  
"Frodo calm down, I do not wish for the ring. However, I wish for its destruction. I will help you no matter what the cost, no matter what the consequence. Just know that you can trust me and Eieru to secure its destruction," she replied.  
  
He felt his eyes fill to the brim with tears and his expression turned from anger to pain. He ran over to her and she bent down to look at him in the eyes. He let the tears run freely down his sun and dirt stained cheeks. He placed his arms around her neck and she placed her arms around his upper body. They hugged and he cried on her shoulder in the middle of the fields right infront of a cave opening. The sun was beginning to set over the other mountain and the moon was just beginning to show her face. The clouds had disappeared and stars were reappearing in their place. 


End file.
